Fixing the Future: The Right to Repair and Equal-IoT
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Law
Abstract
Our 2-year interdisciplinary project will investigate how the lack of repairability in the consumer Internet of Things (IoT) will adversely impact equity, inclusion, and sustainability in the digital economy.
IoT products are becoming the default, with wireless connectivity and automation bundled into mundane household items like TVs, energy meters, toys and phones. Whilst the IoT can still be a consumer choice now, its growth means citizens may see it imposed on them in the future. We use theory and methodologies from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design and Law to anticipate the future impacts of a digital divide caused by redundant IoT devices, particularly for lower income households. We will envision how to build more equitable IoT devices and avoid future inequalities posed by the poor long-term cybersecurity, exploitative uses of data and lacking environmental sustainability that define the current IoT.
Some citizens can afford to replace broken devices but others cannot and require support to repair them or face the impacts. We will examine how equality issues from IoT arise across society, generations and geographies. We will then investigate how to create more repairable devices that respect citizens legal rights, provide long-term cybersecurity, minimise eWaste, and are supported by local community repairability networks.
To do this, we have a research programme driven by stakeholder engagement and co-creation with citizens and project partners, namely:
- Local community repair and maker space, The Making Rooms Blackburn
- Consumer rights and advocacy group, Which?
- Public broadcaster and new media experience developers, BBC Research & Development
- IoT cybersecurity firm, NCC Group
- Climate futures focused artist, Rachel Jacobs/Active Ingredient,
- Social inclusion and digital skills body, the Department of Employment and Social Development in the Canadian Government.
Our 4 integrated work packages (WPs) are underpinned by technical prototype development; qualitative evaluation and participatory research activities; public engagement; and policy driven activities to foster change in the sector to address current IoT led inequalities.
Key focal points of the WPs include: examining legal and ethical challenges for equality posed by current IoT; creating and running an IoT Repair Shop installation in Blackburn with citizens and local repair networks; designing prototypes and user experiences that demonstrate how to build in repairability to address inequalities posed by current IoT; and developing an 'Equal-IoT' toolkit that will practically support development of more equitable futures when living with IoT.
The toolkit is a novel contribution that includes design recommendations and action plans for manufacturers to change current practices; policy guidelines and briefings to shape government activities; digital skills guidelines for enabling repairability in the community; development of an IoT repair shop blueprint model to roll out to other parts of the UK; touring the Repair Shop as a public engagement activity with citizens; developing a manifesto for citizens and repairers to showcase their rights and champion change in IoT development.
IoT products are becoming the default, with wireless connectivity and automation bundled into mundane household items like TVs, energy meters, toys and phones. Whilst the IoT can still be a consumer choice now, its growth means citizens may see it imposed on them in the future. We use theory and methodologies from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design and Law to anticipate the future impacts of a digital divide caused by redundant IoT devices, particularly for lower income households. We will envision how to build more equitable IoT devices and avoid future inequalities posed by the poor long-term cybersecurity, exploitative uses of data and lacking environmental sustainability that define the current IoT.
Some citizens can afford to replace broken devices but others cannot and require support to repair them or face the impacts. We will examine how equality issues from IoT arise across society, generations and geographies. We will then investigate how to create more repairable devices that respect citizens legal rights, provide long-term cybersecurity, minimise eWaste, and are supported by local community repairability networks.
To do this, we have a research programme driven by stakeholder engagement and co-creation with citizens and project partners, namely:
- Local community repair and maker space, The Making Rooms Blackburn
- Consumer rights and advocacy group, Which?
- Public broadcaster and new media experience developers, BBC Research & Development
- IoT cybersecurity firm, NCC Group
- Climate futures focused artist, Rachel Jacobs/Active Ingredient,
- Social inclusion and digital skills body, the Department of Employment and Social Development in the Canadian Government.
Our 4 integrated work packages (WPs) are underpinned by technical prototype development; qualitative evaluation and participatory research activities; public engagement; and policy driven activities to foster change in the sector to address current IoT led inequalities.
Key focal points of the WPs include: examining legal and ethical challenges for equality posed by current IoT; creating and running an IoT Repair Shop installation in Blackburn with citizens and local repair networks; designing prototypes and user experiences that demonstrate how to build in repairability to address inequalities posed by current IoT; and developing an 'Equal-IoT' toolkit that will practically support development of more equitable futures when living with IoT.
The toolkit is a novel contribution that includes design recommendations and action plans for manufacturers to change current practices; policy guidelines and briefings to shape government activities; digital skills guidelines for enabling repairability in the community; development of an IoT repair shop blueprint model to roll out to other parts of the UK; touring the Repair Shop as a public engagement activity with citizens; developing a manifesto for citizens and repairers to showcase their rights and champion change in IoT development.
Publications
Atabey A
(2023)
How do you solve a problem like Alexa?
in Jusletter-IT
BiĆørn-Hansen A
(2024)
Liminal Excavations
in Sustainable Futures Lab
Boniface C
(2024)
Towards a right to repair for the Internet of Things: A review of legal and policy aspects
in Computer Law & Security Review
Castle-Green T
(2024)
"It's All Connected" - A Boardgame to Communicate Climate Impacts of IoT
Castle-Green T
(2024)
Addressing E-Waste Repair Café Processes as Barriers to Repair of Smart Devices
in Base DiseƱo e InnovaciĆ³n
Coulton P
(2024)
Smarter Repair 2053
in The Design Journal
Kilic D
(2024)
User-Centred Repair: From Current Practices to Future Design
Kilic D
(2024)
User-Centred Repair: From Current Practices to Future Design
Lechelt S
(2024)
On Disused Connected Devices: Understanding Disuse, 'Holding On' and Barriers to Circularity
in ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies
| Title | Adventures in Repairland |
| Description | An immersive, interactive game experience that aims to help audiences to consider how the lack of repairability of their everyday smart IoT devices are entrenched systemic issues which contribute to growing environmental issues like e-waste and pollution. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | TBC |
| Title | Fixing the Future Cards |
| Description | This is a deck of physical ideation cards that translates over 20 legal frameworks into specific legal requirements. This draws on cybersecurity, sustainability, data protection, recycling laws and more. These have been designed to be used with creators of Internet of Things (IoT) systems, to help understand and reflect on the legal aspects of their work, to support developing more sustainable IoT systems. These have been developed as both digital and physical tools, and evaluated in a series of workshops with designers, academics, students. They were just completed in Feb 2024 but will be used for further impact activities. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | They are currently being evaluated in academic workshops, where qualitiative data analysis will support an academic publication which documents the development of the cards (due for submission in April 2024). They have been shown to researchers from Osaka (Japan) who were visiting Scotland. There are plans to use them in subsequent impact focused activities. |
| Title | It's All Connected |
| Description | A board game to introduce the concept of, provoke thought around and raise awareness of technology repair. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Engagement with a wide range of users ranging from school students to a diverse set of adults across different locations in the U.K., exposing them to the concept of repair of technology, choices to be made here, their impact on the environment etc. |
| Title | PetTap |
| Description | PetTap is a speculative IoT product designed to highlight hardware/software repairability issues to audiences. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | TBC |
| Title | Re:Play IoT Circular Economy Educational Kit |
| Description | A practical, 'hands on' educational toolkit which aims to improve IoT Circular Economy repair skills and know-how within local communities. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | TBC |
| Title | Repair Assistant |
| Description | A small (Alpha Mini) robot with a voice interface to support and engage with community repairers at repair cafe events. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Repairers engaging with the artifact noted a potential change in practice in the form of an intention to engage with a large language model to assist with repair work in future. |
| Title | The Repair Shop 2049 LED Badge Soldering Kit |
| Description | Developed as part of The Repair Shop 2049 and Fixing the Future projects, our LED badge soldering kit serves as a tangible tool for engaging audiences in creative discussion regards the Right-to-Repair and circularity of electronic/smart devices. Mike Stead, Matthew Pilling and Tom MacPherson Pope |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | Used with the general public and presented at a range of public engagement events (e.g. Blue Dot Festival |
| URL | http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/-(de8f084c-3fd1-479f-af27-3edea7ed712f).html |
| Title | The Right to Repair Cards Website |
| Description | The Right to Repair (R2R) Cards is a design tool to support development of more sustainable consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The R2R cards consolidate analysis of 25 pieces of UK / EU legislation and standards, establishing 90 legal requirements around repair, cybersecurity, environmental design, consumer, and data rights. They are a novel method for translating legal obligations for IoT system designers and wider stakeholders. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | There was an academic paper documenting the work in an international design research venue and now the cards are hosted online to enable wider distribution to broader audiences. |
| URL | https://righttorepaircards0.wordpress.com/card-creation/ |
| Title | Zine: What Might a More Sustainable Internet of Things Look Like? |
| Description | Zine created by Fixing the Future team. Has been printed and displayed at Designing Interactive Systems Conference Zine Library in Copenhagen, Denmark (July 2024), at the Workshop on Creating Sustainable IoT Futures also in Copenhagen (July 2024), and at ICT4S in Stockholm Sweden (June 2024). |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | Wider dissemination of project outcomes, artefact that has helped us with public engagement |
| URL | https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/457273843/Final_Zine.pdf |
| Description | There are interim findings drawing from our interim annual review. The full report is available here https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/radlab/2024/02/28/fixing-the-future-annual-report/. The opening statement from this report provides an overview of Year 1 work. "We are beginning to see a range of academic outputs coming out of our research, across computing, law, and design venues. This includes papers in Computer Law and Security Review, Ubicomp, Design Research Society, NORDICHI, CHI, PLATE. There are many more interdisciplinary papers in the pipeline too. We have been talking about our research to many different communities including the British and Irish Law and Technology Association, Sustainable AI conference, Scottish Law and Innovation Network, and the International Association of Societies of Design Research Congress, to name a few. The team has been engaging with repair café communities and local events around the country too such as at The Restart Project's FixFest 2023. There has been extensive public engagement too, from running repair experiences at festivals such as at ESRC Festival of Science 2023, The National Festival of Making, BlueDot Festival or talking about legal aspects of the right to repair for IoT at library spaces in Scotland. As a team, we have held a launch event in September 2022, with quarterly all hands meetings at Lancaster, Nottingham, Edinburgh since. Our team has been growing too, with 15 early career intern research assistants and postdoctoral researchers joining us in our programme of work. We are also generating a range of exciting new tools to help translate our research beyond academic audiences. For example, we have a new Right to Repair board game to playfully learn about the challenges of the circular economy and repair for IoT; the novel Repair Shop 2049 pop-up repair experiences for citizens to try their hand at soldering smart badges and fixing broken IoT devices; and a deck of Right to Repair cards to help manufacturers learn about the range of laws targeting building of more sustainable internet of things. There is much more planned from the Fixing the Future project team in the coming year. This includes Edu-Kits for repair, more public engagement workshops including with our exciting pop-up touring caravan, policy briefings to shape governance in this area, and more academic papers. " |
| Exploitation Route | Many of the tools we are creating are aiming to take our research beyond academic audiences (as detailed above). |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Electronics Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | Connected Tech: Smart or Sinister?: A Call for Evidence from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/109499/pdf/ |
| Description | Member of LERU Legal Team on AI |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Edinburgh Napier University SCEBE Starter Research & Innovation Grant |
| Amount | Ā£6,625 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Edinburgh Napier University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2022 |
| End | 09/2022 |
| Description | IAA AHRC: Generation Fix: Designing Educational Toolkits to Accelerate Digital Circular Economy Education Within Local Communities |
| Amount | Ā£17,718 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2023 |
| End | 07/2024 |
| Description | IAA EPSRC: Impact Exploration Grant - It's all connected - A boardgame raising awareness of sustainability issues around IoT production and repair |
| Amount | Ā£9,990 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Nottingham |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2024 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | School of Informatics Start Up Fund - PhD studentship on Designing for Sustainable IoT |
| Amount | Ā£56,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 09/2026 |
| Title | Fixing the Future - Repairing Meaningful Objects Literature Review |
| Description | Funded by an Edinburgh Napier University Internal Funding award, a research assistant was recruited to compose a review of literature that would set the stage for a potential investigation into the factors which motivate owners to repair objects that they find to be meaningful to them. The researcher produced a list of 27 relevant publications which they summarised along lines of aims, questions, hypotheses, methodology, application area and findings. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The literature review summarises extant published work on the subject of how objects can transition into meaningful personal things, and how this relationship can motivate their preservation and, if needed, repair. It is indented to be the basis for a future project proposal that will investigate this aspect in detail and seek ways to foster such human-object sentiments to encourage sustainable ownership practices. |
| Description | A talk or presentation - Design and Innovation Nottingham (DING) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On the 23rd of January 2025 , a presentation was held with an attendance of around 30 individuals from the general public. The topic of the presentation revolved around the concept of data from domestic IoT devices as a 'thing' to repair, which intrigued the audience and prompted them to think about data in a new light. The presentation was highly engaging and sparked a lot of questions from the attendees. Many participants expressed their interest in the topic and requested additional information after the session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frances-brown-b5922356_ding-activity-7290338086784229376-wvTs?utm_sou... |
| Description | A talk or presentation - Pint of Science 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Pint of Science is an annual science festival that aims to communicate contemporary scientific developments to the public by bringing scientists to pubs, cafés and other public places to share their research and findings." I presented 'The Secrets of House Smart Devices' which sparked questions and discussion afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Article in sustainability focused magazine Branch on The Repair Shop 2049 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stead, M., Macpherson-Pope, T., & Coulton, P. (2022). The Repair Shop 2049: Mending Things and Mobilising the Solarpunk Aesthetic in the Magazine Branch (EIT Climate KIC, Mozilla Foundation, Climate Action Tech, and the Green Web Foundation), (4). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://branch.climateaction.tech/issues/issue-4/the-repairshop-2049-mendingthings-and-mobilisingthe... |
| Description | Community Library Workshop in Girvan, Ayreshire |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Lachlan Urquhart & I (Christopher Boniface) held a workshop at the Girvan local library where we discussed a number of things related to the award: the purpose & intentions of our work, how we approached it and the different goals, some of our preliminary findings, and what role these workshops would hold. During the discussions we sought to gain insight into what these community members considered gaps or issues in the repair space, current regulatory developments or policy shifts, or what kinds of priorities they had in regards to their personal belongings or technologies. We had around 15 participants, mostly of a senior age (with a couple of younger people), from principally the Girvan area. Some of these participants had no real technology or repair insight beyond personal experiences or problems, but a couple of participants did have experience in cyber security or data related careers. This workshop was largely a trial for future workshops at other libraries around Scotland. The hope is to refine the process & discussion, and to try source a wider range of communities, demographics and socio-economic conditions for future discussions which will provide potential insight for a publication on community perspectives of repair. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Contribution to development of a Repair Cafe at University of Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The Edinburgh team contributed to the ongoing development of a new repair cafe at the University of Edinburgh alongside colleagues from other departments, to support members of the University in learning to repair their items. A first pilot session was held at the end of 2023, and plans have been made for further repair sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Engagement session with Beeston Repair Cafe, Beeston, Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engaged with the attendees and other stakeholders at the Beeston Repair Cafe, Beeston, Nottingham, letting them know of our research, sharing insights and planning for future research collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Engagement with Victoria Repair Cafe, West Bridgford, Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engaged with the attendees and other stakeholders at the Victoria Repair Cafe, West Bridgford, Nottingham, letting them know of our research, sharing insights and planning for future research collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Fan Studies Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Violet Owen took part in a panel presentation talking about Gamers and sustainability - connected to the DIS PWiP paper. This had led on to being asked to contribute a chapter to a book on fan studies (book proposal submitted). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/fanstudies/ |
| Description | FixFest 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engaged with the attendees and other stakeholders at the FixFest Festival in Cardiff in September 2023. Fixfest is a regular gathering of members of the global repair community including repairers, activists, policy-makers, educators and companies. We discussed our research and planned for future research collaborations. I facilitated a workshop around Media, Publicity and participatory tactics exploring the question How can we get decision makers interested in repair? The workshop explored tactics such as new Repair and Reuse Declaration for engaging MPs and councillors as well as activist approaches to promoting repair. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Fixfest 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was on a panel on "Connecting repair to the community" with industry, policy and community group leaders discussing how to engage different communities (where I focused on University students) with the concept of repair (my focus being technology repair to reduce eWaste). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://fixfest.therestartproject.org/news/this-was-fixfest-uk-2023/ |
| Description | Fixing the Future Project Final Showcase |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is a final project showcase that is going to be hosted at the University of Edinburgh on 14 March to bring together 45 attendees from across the project team, members of the public, academics, policymakers, teachers, charities, industry bodies, NGOs to share outcomes from the project with talks and showcases of tools and artefacts we have created during the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Fixing the Future Seminar at BBC R&D |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 25 BBC R&D staff attended a seminar synthesising the Fixing the Future work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Fixing the Future Website and Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Fixing the Future project website https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/ and blog https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/blog-2/ were created to engage the general public and other interested audiences in project activities. The website contains background information about the projects and is intended to disseminate project information to general audiences online. The blog posts are also intended to encourage collaboration and discuss project research across work packages. The blog is intended to be an ongoing engagement activity for project members to communicate their work to online audiences. Project Members have posted eight blog posts about project activities including reports from conferences and events, talks, workshops and research and will continue to post blogs for the duration of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Green Yonder: Sustainable Design Futures at Fourth Portal's Innovation Showcase 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mike Stead, Dr Violet Owen and Prof Paul Coulton ran this event to "explore how emerging technologies like AI and IoT impact sustainability through hands-on games and repair challenges. Join us to learn essential skills for a circular economy in a fun, interactive setting for all ages." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/activities/green-yonder-sustainable-design-futures-at-fou... |
| Description | Hosted Leanne Wiseman for visit and talk at RAD Lab |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Hosted Prof Leanne Wiseman, who was visiting Edinburgh, for a talk in the Regulation and Design Lab which I founded/lead at University of Edinburgh, about her work on the Right to Repair in Australia. This engaged PGR and academic staff in her work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Imagination Festival of Futures 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Festival of "Flagship events, workshops and an exhibition of cutting-edge design research drawn from four centres of design research excellence across the UK." Dr Mike Stead and Violet Owen - presentation of our artefacts designed for the EPSRC Fixing the Future, AHRC IAA Generation Fix and EPSRC/ESRC The Repair Shop 2049 projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/activities/imagination-festival-of-futures-2024(d9a0bebd-... |
| Description | Interviewed for Interaction Design Sound Bit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed about my approach to research for the Sound Bites for Interaction Design 6th Ed https://www.id-book.com/sound-bites ( a leading Interaction Design publication) at ACM SIGCHI in April 2023. This has been released online https://www.id-book.com/sound-bites |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.id-book.com/sound-bites |
| Description | Invited Discussant at Scottish Law and Innovation Network Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of a Scottish law and Innovation Network event with Professor Leanne Wiseman (from Griffiths University), at Strathclyde University, I was invited to be a discussant around her research on the Right to Repair in Australia |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.scottishlegal.com/articles/scottish-law-and-innovation-network-to-host-right-to-repair-e... |
| Description | Invited Talk at AHRC / Future Observatory/ Design Museum 'Adapting together' Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stead was invited to present on "The Repair Shop 2049: Building Local Repair Communities to Make Smart TechSmarter" at the AHRC/Future Observatory/Design Museum AdaptingTogether Symposium in Nov 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk/update/adapting-together-symposium/ |
| Description | Invited Talk to the Faculty of Advocates |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lachlan Urquhart was invited to speak at an event on legal, ethical and social challenges of Artificial Intelligence at the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh on 12th September 2023 This is co-sponsored by RSA Fellows' Media, Creative Industries, Culture and Heritage Network with the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy and the Scottish Centre for Research on IP and Technology Law. This event had speakers including Iain G Mitchell KC FRSA ,Dr Eve Poole OBE FRSA and Dr Lachlan Urquhart. The audience was primarily legal practitioners and advocates in Scotland from the industry, alongside postgraduate students, public sector etc. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.thersa.org/events/fellowship/2023/09/ai-perspectives-and-challenges |
| Description | Invited to BBC Responsible AI Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited to a closed event at BBC House in London as an expert in AI and regulation to discuss future landscape around responsible AI. This was alongside experts from Netherlands, UK, BRAID, and many industry professionals from the BBC, to participate in workshop activities and horizon scanning around how to create more responsible AI including questions of sustainablity, privacy, security, risk, harms etc. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Invited to Roundtable in Brussels |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to attend a roundtable in Brussels in April 2024 at the University Institute for a discussion around the EU Declaration on Digital Rights, and to discuss work i'm doing around sustainability. This event was attended by academics, policymakers and legal practitioners too. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Invited to the Legal Design Jam Session on Internet of Things and Consumer Law |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to a day long workshop at Stirling University with researchers from Stirling, Osnabrueck, Aberdeen, Warwick, and Bonn as part of their AHRC project on IoT and consumer law to participate in a range of activities around future regulation of the internet of things and the role of legal design in mapping out and addressing these concerns. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Liberate the tractors - The Conversation Article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stead, M., & Coulton, P. (2022). 'Liberate the tractors': the right to repair movement that's regaining control of our devices, 2022, Web publication/site, The Conversation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/liberate-the-tractorsthe-right-to-repairmovement-thatsregaining-control-... |
| Description | Market Harborough Repair Cafe Introductory Visit to negotiate further engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Attendance at a repair cafe to introduce organiser and volunteer repairers to the research and secure further engagement sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2023/12/21/understanding-repair-challenges/ |
| Description | Market Harborough Repair Cafe, Market Harborough |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engaged with the attendees and other stakeholders at the Market Harborough Repair Cafe, Market Harborough, letting them know of our research, sharing insights and planning for future research collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Mike Stead Invited Talk at Design Informatics Seminar Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stead presented at Design Informatics Seminar Series on 'Designing Sustainable Technological Futures: The Repair Shop 2049 & Other Adventures' in Oct 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | National Festival of Making 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "The National Festival of Making is a unique celebration of making, from the kitchen table to the factory floor. Presenting a programme of work that combines art, manufacturing, making and communities, we commission international and national artists to create world class works, a year round programme and a participatory FREE FAMILY festival for all to enjoy." Dr Mike Stead and Violet Owen - Impact and engagement activities for the EPSRC Fixing the Future and AHRC Generation Fix projects in collaboration with The Making Rooms Blackburn. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/activities/the-national-festival-of-making-2024(829f3910-... |
| Description | Nottingham Fixers Repair Cafe Visit to maintain connections and increase awareness |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Working with repairers to understand their work, interviews with general public, discussions about the research with repair cafe volunteers and general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2023/12/21/understanding-repair-challenges/ |
| Description | Nottingham Fixers, Sherwood, Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Engaged with the attendees and other stakeholders at the Nottingham Fixers, Sherwood, Nottingham, letting them know of our research, sharing insights and planning for future research collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Panel at TILTing Perspectives Tilburg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented "'Clever Computing through Accountable Design: Designing for Security in Smart Homes" at the TILTing Perspectives conference as part of the panel on security in Tilburg, Netherlands. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Participation in FameLab UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Teresa Castle Green was East Midlands Runner up at FameLab UK - giving a 3 minute a talk on repair challenges of IoT (based on this project) - At a live final - competition is to communicate complex scientific concepts to the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/our-projects/famelab/famelab-uk |
| Description | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Creating the Future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop comprised four sessions, with two held at the Jubilee Campus in Nottingham and two at Finsbury Park in London. During these sessions, participants were encouraged to reflect on the past, present, and future of their respective locations. We explored various methods to observe and document change, utilising a combination of physical sensing, scientific sensors, visualisations, QR codes, craft, and music. The participants showed great interest in these activities and actively shared their experiences both during the event and on social media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Presentation at BILETA 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented the paper 'Legal Aspects of the Right to Repair for Consumer Internet of Things' with C Boniface at the British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association annual conference at the Vrije University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. This was part of an international panel with scholars from Australia, and sharing insights from our project internationally. For context - BILETA is one of the longest standing technology law association's in Europe, that brings together legal practitioners, academics, education, government etc for knowledge exchange. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://alti.amsterdam/programbileta2023/ |
| Description | Presentation at Circular Economy Festival (L Urquhart and S Lechelt) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Lachlan Urquhart and Susan Lechelt presented at the Institute of Waste Management Circular Economy Festival on 29th November 2022 about the Fixing the Future Project to a varied audience, but primarily industry actors associated with the institute. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.circulareconomyfestival.com/ |
| Description | Presentation at IRISS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented the Paper "How do you Solve a Problem Like Alexa?" at the IRISS Conference in Salzburg, Austria on 23-25 Feb 2024. The paper won an award as it was shortlisted as a top 10 paper at the entire conference. I also presented at the competition for award of overall top paper, and chaired a session at the conference. IRISS is a premier legal informatics conference with participants from across the legal profession in academia, and professional practice. https://iris-conferences.eu/iris23_22-25feb23 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/radlab/2023/03/03/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-alexa/ |
| Description | Presentation at Sustainable AI Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lachlan Urquhart, presented at the Sustainable AI conference that ran 30th May - 1st June 2023 in Bonn, Germany. He presented a paper Towards a More Sustainable Internet of Things? Exploring The Role of the Right to Repair". This draws on a research paper with Dr Christopher Boniface, Prof Melissa Terras and Dr Urquhart which conducted an interdisciplinary literature review on the Right to Repair for the Internet of Things. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presented a Paper at the Scottish Law and Innovation network Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented a paper titled "Fixing the Future: Right to Repair and Consumer Internet of Things" with Christopher Boniface at the SCOTLIN conference in Aberdeen, 27-28 March 2023. This introduced the audience to the project, and our activities thus far (e.g. initial insights from the systematic literature review). SCOTLIN is a Scottish research network of law and technology professionals in academia and beyond https://www.scotlin.org/. Also see a blog post on this activity here https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/radlab/2023/04/11/fixing-the-future-presentation-at-scotlin-conference/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.scotlin.org/conference |
| Description | Presented at Gikii workshop, UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented the talk 'Toxic Garbage Island: Repair and eWaste in Chen Quifan's The Waste Tide' at the Gikii 2024 workshop at University College London in September 2024. This was based on research conducted in the FtF project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Project trip to Sweden to share findings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 5 members of the Fixing the Future team members were in Uppsala at the NORDICHI conference to present papers and run a workshop in October 2024. This was good representation for the project and ECR members of the team reflected on the value of their experience https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2024/11/28/fixing-the-future-goes-to-nordichi/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2024/11/28/fixing-the-future-goes-to-nordichi/ |
| Description | Provost's Visit to University of Edinburgh School of Informatics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The University of Edinburgh's Provost visited the School of Informatics and a poster presentation about the project was given to her, alongside a wider audience from the University, as part of this. This led to wider visibility of the project within the University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Regulation by Design for Smart Technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented about my research agenda at the interface of law and technology, including reflecting on insights form ongoing projects such as Fixing the Future and Trustworthy Autonomous Systems. This event (and the series in general) gathers a wide online and in person audience (academics, industry, students) in Edinburgh at the Institute of Design Informatics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.designinformatics.org/event/di-webinar-lachlan-urquhart/ |
| Description | Repair Conference 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Around 100 repair stakeholders (repair cafes, DEFRA policy contributors, industry etc.) attended the Repair Conference 2023 at Farnham, United Kingdom. I chaired the smart products table at the workshop which discussed the current and future challenges of repairing smart devices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Repair Shop 2049 at BlueDotFestival, July 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Repair Shop 2049 team went to BlueDotFestival July 2023 with an LED Badge Soldering + engagement activities - this included UoL team members - Stead, Owen, Macpherson-Pope & Pilling. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/arts-and-social-sciences/news/fixing-the-future-for-smart-devices-the-repair-shop-2049-team-at-bluedot |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.discoverthebluedot.com/profile/the-repair-shop/ |
| Description | Repair Shop 2049 at Festival of Social Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'How Smart Are Our Smart Devices If We Cannot Repair and Reuse Them?: The Repair Shop 2049' was at the ESRC Festival of Social Science in Nov 2022. Led to coverage in both BBC Radio Lancashire - https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/clippings/the-repair-shop-2049-part-of-lancaster-university-at-the-esrc-festival-of-social-science-2022(e6b24746-cefb-4faf-a4fe-2e56ebb93726).html and local newspaper Lancashire Telegraph https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/clippings/the-repair-shop-2049-at-esrc-festival-of-social-science-2022(4a84be3c-3735-4b0a-83e9-cc15f4ab2fa1).html . Involve Stead, Coulson, MacPherson Pope and Pilling. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/clippings/the-repair-shop-2049-part-of-lancaster-universi... |
| Description | Research Workshops around rural Scotland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We ran 6 research workshops at different locations around Scotland, at repair cafes/libraries/community centres, to discuss issues of repair, sustainability and regulation with the public to learn about their concerns and interests in the area. Beyond being a citizen engagement activity, as research workshops, they will lead to future publications in the area about our findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Sustainability Showcase Exhibit at BBC Wild Isles in Concert |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Manned Exhibition stand at a sustainability showcase event at a BBC wild isles concert. Engagement involved discussions and demonstrations of the It's All Connected boardgame to the general public attending the evening concert at the theatre and a class of around 30 school children who visited the event as a field trip during the day. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2024/03/25/sustainability-showcase/ |
| Description | Talk at the CIWM Festival of Circular Economy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Urquhart and Lechelt were invited to present the project at the CIWM Festival of Circular Economy, which led to questions and discussions afterwards from a broad audience, and lent wider visibility to the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.circularonline.co.uk/news/live-update-the-festival-of-circular-economy/ |
| Description | Talk at the Horizon Digital Economy Hub Lab Talk Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk on the Fixing the Future project, our engagement activities with the repair cafes, current research and future plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Talk at the Horizon Digital Economy Hub Lab Talk Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research area, approach and intermediary findings about the processes within repair cafes and the challenges impacting the repair of IoT within community settings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Talk at the Mixed Reality Laboratory Lab Talk Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk on the Fixing the Future activities, our engagement with repair cafes, the ongoing research and future plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Talk for Allens Hub on Law and Technology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented to the University of New South Wales Allen Hub Law and Technology on 1st Feb 2024 in a talk called 'Clever Computing through Accountable Design' which explored themes of smart device cybersecurity, and the role of design in addressing these risks. This Webinar engaged with researchers, practitioners and industry in Australia, and built stronger collaborations with scholars at UNSW who are also working on issues of security and repair. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://allenshub.unsw.edu.au/events/challenges-cyber-physical-world-online-seminar-series-clever-co... |
| Description | Talk for No Harm Done Nile Design Consultancy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 4th October, Lachlan did a talk for the first in a new series "No Harm Done" hosted at InSpace by the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Design Informatics and Edinburgh design consultancy Nile. Lachlan acted as the 'academic provocateur' in a series of lightning talks alongside Catriona Melton, Senior Associate from DLA Piper and Neil Collman Design Director at Nile. This event focused on "Unmasking the Algorithm Transparency and accountability in AI decision-making" The event was well attended with industry practitioners, designers, academics and students and following the talks was some active breakout groups and collective discussion around the challenges AI poses for ethics and design, but also the opportunities from design methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.designinformatics.org/event/unmasking-the-algorithm/ |
| Description | Talk on Designing A More Sustainable Internet of Things. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stead was invited to talk at Aarhus University, Denmark on Designing A More Sustainable Internet of Things in Feb 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | The Morecombe Bay Curriculum Conference 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | "A conference for educators around Morecambe Bay who want to embed place, sustainability and the environment into their everyday teaching" Dr Mike Stead presented during the conference, "I presented More-than-Human Sustainable Design and Technology focused work from the EPSRC/ESRC Repair Shop 2049, EPSRC Fixing the Future, EPSRC Edge of Tomorrow and AHRC Generation Fix projects. I also led an 'Action' roundtable discussing - how do we develop More-than-Human Design and Technology education to foster a Sustainable Future?" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/activities/the-morecombe-bay-curriculum-conference-2024(d... |
| Description | The Repair Shop 2049 at the National Festival of Making |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Repair and Equal-IoT project team in conjunction with The Making Rooms Blackburn, engaged with local citizen makers and repairers to discuss the right-to-repair of smart device hardware/software at the National Festival of Making July 2023. Stead, Macpherson-Pope & Pilling. involved LED Badge soldering and engagement activities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | V&A Digital Design Weekend |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mike Stead and Violet Owen were at the Victoria and Albert Museum at Digital Design Weekend and ran a series of interactive activities, soldering robot badges, Re:Play and RepairLand. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/9pmbZOVdEw/digital-design-weekend-2024?srsltid=AfmBOooOHQ0Yh3nvPuSCoM5tq... |
| Description | Victoria Repair Cafe Visit to maintain connections and update on the research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Multiple visits to Victoria repair cafe to maintain relations and update them on the research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://ftf.wp.horizon.ac.uk/2023/12/21/understanding-repair-challenges/ |
| Description | Workshop at Designing Interactive Systems 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We organised a workshop in Copenhagen at Designing interactive systems 2024, to engage c20 researchers around the intersection between legal and design research in addressing sustainability concerns around the Internet of Things. This prompted extensive interdisciplinary reflection on problems around sustainable design, barriers to improvement, envisioning better futures, and demonstrations/showcasing artefacts participants have been making to help address this problem domain. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/fixing_the_future_dis24/ |
| Description | Workshops For New Fixing the Future Card Deck |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Running a series of workshops to elicit feedback and insights from industry, academics, and students about our new Right to Repair card deck that exists to help translate laws and build more sustainable IoT devices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.designinformatics.org/event/fixing-the-future-card-deck-evaluation-workshop-rd2/ |
| Description | Workshops to develop and test the It's All Connected Boardgame |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Workshops to test potential impact, messaging and flow of game mechanics within the boardgame |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |